DWARF HERMIT THRUSH 131 



more sepia brown, upper tail-coverts more russet, tail more chestnut, 

 aDd spots on chest larger and darker." 



Grinnell and Wythe (1927) state that the dwarf hermit thrush 

 leaves the San Francisco Bay region in spring about the first of April, 

 a late date being April 21 at Berkeley. And George Willett writes 

 to me that "the species arrives in southeastern Alaska in late April 

 and early May, and leaves mostly in September. It usually nests 

 three weeks to a month earlier than H. ustulata." 



Nesting.— Mr. Willett (MS.) reports two nests, each containing 

 four eggs. One that he took at Ketchikan, Alaska, on June 8, 1924, 

 was located three feet from the ground among the roots of a windfall 

 in the woods; it contained four eggs, advanced in incubation, and was 

 made of moss and lichens, lined with rootlets and leaves; the nest 

 measured 100 by 60 millimeters in outside dimensions, and the inner 

 cavity measured 72 by 37 millimeters. 



He collected another nest at Petersburg, Alaska, on July 3, 1936; 

 this nest was placed 3% feet up in a young hemlock in the woods, and 

 held four eggs, about half incubated; the nest was similar to the other 

 in construction but of different dimensions; it measured 125 by 73 

 millimeters outside, and 62 by 35 millimeters inside. He remarks: 

 "This latter is a very late nesting date for the region, young being 

 usually hatched by the middle of June and full-grown about July 18." 



S. J. Darcus (1930) mentions two nests found on Langara Island, 

 in the Queen Charlotte group; they contained feathered young on 

 June 10. "Both these nests were built on top of stumps, the one 8 

 feet from the ground, the other 6 feet." 



Two nests were recorded by the 1907 Alexander Alaska Expedition, 

 according to Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1909). At Idaho Inlet, on July 22, 

 a pair had a nest that contained young nearly ready to fly; "the nest 

 was built in a niche in a perpendicular moss-grown bank about four 

 feet above the bottom." And on July 7, a nest was found at Glacier 

 Bay that held four fresh eggs. "The nest was situated in a crotch 

 formed by a small limb and the naked body of a ten-inch hemlock and 

 was six and one-half feet above the ground. It was found by seeing 

 the female fly from it, and was seemingly but a stray bunch of moss in 

 which a cavity had been made by the bird." 



Eggs. — Four eggs seems to be the usual number laid by the dwarf 

 hermit thrush. These are like the eggs of the other hermit thrushes, 

 usually ovate in shape and plain "Nile blue" in color, without mark- 

 ings. The measurements of 16 eggs average 22.3 by 16.6 millimeters; 

 the eggs showing the four extremes measure 24.0 by 16.0, 23.9 by 

 17.3, 20.5 by 17.0, and 24.0 by 15.6 millimeters. 



Behavior.— W. L. Dawson (Dawson and Bowles, 1909) gives a very 



